By Marcus Moloko
The Madlanga Commission of Inquiry on Tuesday turned its focus to the use of “grabbers,” surveillance technology capable of intercepting cell phone communications, with evidence leader Advocate Matthew Chaskalson presenting fresh details linking the devices to individuals associated with possible organised crime.
Chaskalson told the commission: “Chair, we’ve decided to use today to deal with evidence flowing from the WhatsApp chats of the late Mr. Msibi. So I’ll be presenting some evidence extracted on the WhatsApp extracted from the late Mr. Msibi’s phone.”
“Some of it speaks for itself, some of it I’ll be suggesting some inferences which other witnesses may have to clarify or refute. I would ask the Commission to bear with me a little today because this has been prepared on relatively short notice, so it may not flow as smoothly as might otherwise be the case.”
He explained that the chats of Sergeant Fannie Nkosi provided the starting point for the new topic.
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“Let’s kick off. And the first issue that I want to address is a project that seems to involve in different stages Mr. Msibi, Mr. Katiso Molefi, and Mr. Stephen Motsumi, involved in dealing in grabbers. Grabbers are technology that enable you to eavesdrop on cell phones and to extract information from cell phones. And the starting point for this topic is Sergeant Nkosi’s chats.”
The Commission heard that a draft document addressed to the Ministry of Trade and Industry of the Czech Republic outlined a demonstration of “dual use goods” in South Africa.
The demonstration was scheduled to take place at the South African Police Service (SAPS) headquarters in Pretoria, with the Czech company Invisis identified as the supplier.
The goods listed for demonstration included TELUS IMSI Catcher, SWGSMA 5/1, and Lunatm MITM Mobile.
Chaskalson clarified their purpose: “IMSI stands for International Mobile Subscriber Identity. So, an IMSI catcher is something that catches a mobile identity. In colloquial terms, it’s a grabber.”
“What it does is it’s a surveillance device that mimics a legitimate cell phone tower, and it tricks nearby mobile phones to connect with it rather than the cell phone tower. And then you can download what is on the communications from the mobile phone that are connected to your grabber, as opposed to the nearby cell phone tower.”
The evidence suggests that individuals, including the late Msibi, Katiso Molefi, and Motsumi, were linked to attempts to procure or demonstrate grabber technology, raising concerns about its potential use in organised crime networks.
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The commission is expected to continue probing the extent of these dealings and their implications for South Africa’s law enforcement and security environment.
The commissioners asked Chaskalson to ascertain if anyone could purchase such devices, and what the legality behind having access to them meant for the users.
The commission continues.
